Past

Catalogues

LANDSEASKY: revisiting spatiality in video art 2015

Catalogue publication.Paperback, 94pp, full colour.
ISBN 978-1-921858-29-1
Published by OCAT – Shanghai and MAAP-Media Art Asia Pacific
94pp Full colour English and Chinese

LANDSEASKY: revisiting spatiality in video art documents the eponymous touring exhibition that presented visually rich and challenging video artworks from 18 international contemporary artists in 3 countries, 5 cities, activating 11 venues in the major Asia – Australia tour. The exhibition was presented in South Korea, China and Australia across multiple prestigious museums and galleries in 2014 – 2015 including Artsonje Center (Seoul), OCAT- Shanghai, Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou), Griffith University Art Gallery and MAAP SPACE (Brisbane), The National Art School Gallery (Sydney) along with five commercial galleries in Seoul – ONE AND J Gallery, Gallery IHN, Gallery Skape, Lee Hwaik Gallery and Opsis Art.

This international touring exhibition speaks to the three elements represented by the horizon line as an emblematic starting point to investigate spatiality in video and the moving image. The sculptural attributes of video and the moving image are brought to the fore to address the elemental theme of the exhibition in a phenomenological rather than narrative experience. The publication includes full colour documentation of all art works in the exhibition.

A collection of essays by participants and collaborators are offered here to reflect upon the exhibition. The artistic directors of the non-commercial host venues Mariagrazia Constantino, Artistic Director, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai; Sunjung Kim, Chief Curator of Art Sonje Center; Naomi Evans, Acting Director, Griffith University Art Gallery; and Judith Blackall, Director, National Art School Gallery contribute commentary of the exhibition in their city venue and to varying degrees, the context that supported it. Andrew McNamara offers a very specific historical examination of early spatial experiments in modernist art in Europe through his research evidencing Erich Buchholz’s spatial experiments in 1922 that are prescient to Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau project. Paul Bai extrapolates spatial theory recounting Henri Lefebvre and Edward Sooja’s perspectives before offering a progressive proposition to apply to contemporary art’s critical reading. Ingrid Periz writes as an observer, responding to the exhibition with her reflections and insights, shining light on Alain Corbin (1750-1850) writings, where she brings to notice how ‘the Western seaside is a post-Enlightenment, and specifically Romantic project, underwritten by the new science of geology and the history of Dutch landscape painting”. Kim Machan, director of MAAP and curator of the exhibition provides an introduction and the exhibition rationale.

Light from Light 2012

Catalogue publication. Paperback, 128 pages, full colour. A summary of the ‘Light from Light’ media art project developed in public libraries in Australia and China.

The publication traces MAAP’s major site-specific exhibition Light from Light across 5 international venues. Featuring essays by Pauline Yao (curator M+ Museum of Visual Culture, HK) and Kim Machan (Light from Light curator), with foreword by Caroline Turner (Senior Research Fellow, ANU and co-founder of APT). Artists featured include Archie Moore, Joyce Hinterding, David Haines, Eugene Carchesio, Grant Stevens, Janet Burchil, Jennifer McCamley, Josef Strau, Lin Tianmiao, Wang Gongxin, Wang Peng, and Zhang Peili. The catalogue was officially launched at MAAP SPACE by Lea Giles-Peters (State Library of Queensland, State Librarian, 2000-2011) on 6th December 2012. The exhibition Light from Light – REPRISE, held at MAAP SPACE to coincide with the launch of the publication, presents a number of Light from Light artworks amongst documentation from the two-year touring show.

MAAP 2006: out of the internet

Catalogue publication. Paperback, 32 pages, full colour. Published on the occasion of the MAAP 2006: OUT OF THE INTERNET project held at the State Library of Queensland, Brisbane.

MAAP’s 2006 media art festival OUT OF THE INTERNET considered artists working in or connected through internet art practice. OUT OF THE INTERNET the key exhibition component of the 2006 MAAP festival, engaged with a select group of artists living in Asia. MAAP commissioned new works by : *CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS, LIM + PHUA (Charles Lim and Melvin Phua key members of Tsunamii.net), Feng Mengbo, Iain Mott and YOUNG HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES.

MAAP in Singapore 2004: GRAVITY

MAAP in Singapore 2004: GRAVITY festival explored the conceptual, political and physical notions of gravity – with Klein’s Leap into the Void 1960 as a key anchor to the ways the art works might be read – MAAP in 2004 presented and produced GRAVITY in Singapore across seven major art venues committed to the new media art of the region: The Singapore Art Museum | The Substation | The Earl Lu Gallery | The Art Gallery National Institute of Education | Nanjang Academy of Fine Arts Gallery | p-10 | The Esplanade – where an 80 metre transit tunnel was wired for artists’ audio creations. A networked art work by Zhang Ga utilised public video walls that linked Singapore (Raffels Square) to Reuters Video Wall (Time Square New York) and QUT Creative Industries precinct (Brisbane) amongst other international partners. An international refereed conference was coordinated by Nanyang Technological University. Each element of MAAP’s large-scale 2004 media art festival calibrated and activated discussion about ‘the state of the digital arts’ with excellent cross institutional cooperation.

MAAP in Beijing 2002: moist

In 2002 MAAP became a mobile Asia Pacific new media organization with the MAAP in Beijing exhibition hosted by the Art Museum of China Millennium Monument with the support of The China International Exhibitions Agency, The Gohua Group, The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)and the Australian Embassy in Beijing. The core programme presented 19 major media art installations at the Art Museum of China Millennium Monument, including utilising the recently installed 31 metre video wall containing 56 programmable monitors. In addition, MAAP in Beijing 2002 presented screening programmes curated by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, dLux Media Arts, Experimenta Media Arts and Videotage, as well as CD Rom and Net Art Programs by MAAP, the Australian Network for Art and Technology and Art Centre Nabi. A 2 day symposium was held at CAFA and a satellite program ran at The Loft New Media Art Space – another venue for artists talks, screenings and monitor abled art works. The festival theme of ‘moist’ suggested a conductive environment of cultural ideas recognising the non-linear and pluralist characteristics of contemporary art, culture and society.

MAAP 2001: Excess

Print program. 23 page booklet, 120mm x 120mm, full colour. Published on the occasion of the MAAP 2001: Excess festival.

MAAP 2001 was curated under the theme of ‘excess’ to acknowledge the vast amount of digital content that was readily available, the potential to replicate and distribute content. It considered the enormous range of aesthetic extremes and ideas that were being circulated through the internat and digital video projects sent quickly via postal means. Very recently curated Chinese video art programs were shown including wild and excessive performance events such as ‘Post Sensibility: SPREE’ 2001 curated by Qiu Zhijie along with other programs from China Korea This pertained on the one hand to baroque, indulgent and wasteful tendencies and on the other to the severe limits of minimalism. In 2001 the festival expanded into an extensively networked and partnered programming including multi-location events and collaborations. Organisations linked with the festival included the Digital Media Festival (Manilla), Art Centre Nabi (Soeul), the Loft New Media Centre (Beijing), Videotage (Hong Kong), Experimenta (Melbourne) and ANAT (Adelaide).

MAAP 2000: Presence and Place

The third MAAP festival, held in September 2000, extended past festivals’ experimentation with online exchange, content and presentation. The theme of ‘Presence and Place’ rejected the previous festival’s ideologies of geographical dissolution. Instead, the festival bolstered the role of site and local context in interpreting new media art. The ‘Presence and Place’ forum was an amalgam of web-linked discussions, facilitated by new media theorist Geert Lovink, and panels scattered throughout the Asia Pacific region with participation from academics, curators and artists. The ‘Web Jam’ attempted to stream 7 disparate locations into the discussions – this was a very rare and ambitious challenge in 2000. MAAP in Brisbane reached out to a network of speakers including: curator Kim Sunjung with artists Young-hae Chang and Marc Voge at Art Sonje Seoul; artist W Christiawan, Bandung Indonesia; artist Feng Mengbo and curator Pi Li, Beijing; Director of Videotage Fion Ng and artist Hung Keung, Hong Kong; and artist Shilpa Gupta, Mumbai. The experience, while patchy in technical success, built a camaraderie that is invaluable.

MAAP 1998: Mapping the Region

The inaugural MAAP festival was held in 1998, establishing an international program for ‘unmapped’ experimentation and creativity from Australia and the Asia Pacific region. The festival program was themed as ‘See, Seek, Speak’, comprising a screening program, interactive exhibition program and a combined conference, forum and training program. Events were held in a number of venues across Brisbane including Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland State Library, Griffith University, Metro Arts, and the Institute of Modern Art. The festival included ‘Shorelines:Particles and Waves’ (curated by Beth Jackson) that is the first online exhibition to be shown in a state gallery or museum in Australia – hosted at the Queensland Art Gallery. Other partner venues included Queensland State Library, Griffith University, Metro Arts, and the Institute of Modern Art.

Zhang Peili

Josef Strau, A2 Poster from ‘Theatre of the Lamps Talking in the Light Past’ (2010). English version

Artwork. Single-sided poster, A2, black & white. Published on the occasion of the Light from Light exhibition. English version.

As part his installation ‘Theatre of the Lamps Talking in the Light of the Past’, commissioned for the Light from Light exhibition, Strau presented an edition of black & white A2 posters containing a transcript of his audio work.

Josef Strau, A2 Poster from ‘Theatre of the Lamps Talking in the Light Past’ (2010). Chinese version

Artwork. Single-sided poster, A2, black & white. Published on the occasion of the Light from Light exhibition. Chinese version.

As part his installation ‘Theatre of the Lamps Talking in the Light of the Past’, commissioned for the Light from Light exhibition, Strau presented an edition of black & white A2 posters containing a transcript of his audio work.

Join MAAP

MAAP is a Brisbane-based organisation that supports, generates, exchanges and collaborates on contemporary media art projects in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. MAAP operates MAAP SPACE, a gallery program featuring regular curated exhibitions of media art from Australia and the Asia Pacific region, and the MAAP Media Bank, an equipment-lending service for artists.

MAAP-Media Art Asia Pacific gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
MAAP is supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments.
This project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; The Confucius Institute at Queensland University of Technology; and The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.